Buffy and the Beast
by readingmama
Summary: Tale as old as time...sort of. The fairy tale gets a new twist as Buffy finds herself drawn to a beast that may be the end of her. FAGE 5 gift for Leni.


**FAGEY McFAGEINGTON THE 5th**

**Title: Buffy and the Beast**

**Written for: Leni**

**Written By: Readingmama (Vampmama)**

**Rating: T**

**Summary/****Prompt**** used: **You know, the original fairy tales are kind of gory.

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**Thank you so much to my ubertalented beta AcrosstheSkyinStars.  
**

I've read the story, in fact I've combed through every version of the story I could find. They are all wrong, although I sort of wish the Disney version was true. I would have made it through to the other side a lot less messed up and with a few less scars.

My name isn't Belle,it's Buffy, and his name is not Vincent or Adam or even Beast, although the last fits him the best. The story as it was written was based on premonitions by an anagogic demon; the truth wasn't romantic enough, so storytellers wove their own versions.

My beast was not hairy, nor did he live in a castle, at least not during the time I knew him. And while he did have fangs, he always looked princely. No amount of love was needed to change his face, it was already beautiful. Instead it was the insides that needed a makeover. My beast had a black soul and a shriveled raison of a heart, kind of like the Grinch, but again, much prettier.

It's funny that the fairy tale uses Belle's father as the catalyst, he gets lost and ends up in the Beast's castle. If my father had been the one to go missing, I likely wouldn't have even known about it for months. We weren't exactly close. No, no one got lost. My beast stole my mother from me.

Because he thought it was funny.

I am a slayer of beasts—vampires in specific, although I do dabble in demons and werewolves as well—and I have a good sense of humor, but I didn't find it funny at all.

The vampire, my Beast, wasn't particularly offended by slaying of his kind. He couldn't care less as long as I wasn't after him; he had bigger fish to fry. What he was offended by was Spike, you would know him better as Gaston. Spike was also a vampire. He was loud and obnoxious and had the worst bleach job known to man or demon. He also thought he was perfection, and since he had already killed two slayers, he had decided the new challenge would be to bed one. Me being the only slayer in the world made his options limited, and annoyed the crap out of me. I didn't sleep with the monsters, I killed them.

The rivalry between them went back many decades. As big as the world was, they couldn't seem to stay out of each other's ways. A territory would be claimed and Spike would waltz in like he owned the place. Rioting, fires, and stories of plagues followed the two vampires around. Once their paths collided, destruction followed.

So when the Beast heard what Spike was after, he decided to take something important to me to draw the other vampire out. It wasn't me he was after at all. It wasn't me he was scared of, and that pissed me off, but I soon learned why. The beast was the most brutal thing I would ever cross paths with.

"You're not serious," I said to Spike, unable to remember the reason why I had invited him into my home the first time. "He took my mother because you think you have an itch only I can scratch?"

"Slayer," he replied softly in his British accent. "Don't lessen what this is. It's a need for me to rock your world."

I rolled my eyes and my hand twitched with the need to reach for my stake. But I couldn't turn him to ashes yet, I needed Spike to find my mom.

"Where would he have taken her?"

"Now don't get your knickers in a twist, pet…" Spike's voice was cut off when my hand closed around his throat and pushed him against the wall.

"Where, Spike?"

"I never knew you liked it rough, Slayer," he replied cheekily, his voice strained.

My other hand reached for my stake and I placed it over his chest against his heart. I was in no mood to play games.

"Now let's not be rash," he said, and I knew my threat was real to him. I raised an eyebrow and he continued to speak, "He left this."

My eyes darted down and I saw a small, aged paper in his hand. I looked back at his eyes and gave his neck one more warning squeeze before I let him go and grabbed the paper. Once I touched it, I realized it was not paper but more of a canvas. It was well worn; the fabric supple from many years of being handled, the oil from the many fingers that had touched it had made it almost baby soft.

I opened the fold and stared down at it. I don't know what I expected, maybe a map or something, but all I saw was a symbol. It was strangely alluring, and I couldn't quite say why. It looked like the crown on the statue of liberty, just a half circle with elevating spikes, the one right on top being the longest.

"How is this going to help me find my mom?" I asked finally, tearing my eyes away from the canvas to look up at Spike.

The bastard smiled. "Because, love, I've seen this symbol somewhere before."

~~BatB~~

"You can't go after him alone," Xander said for the fourth time as I began to strap weapons to my body. Knife at the ankle, stake at my hip, second stake on my thigh and bad-ass axe holstered against my back.

"Are you sure this symbol is what Spike says it is?" Willow asked from her spot on my bed. She was sitting cross-legged as she studied the canvas.

"He said he saw that on a crypt at the cemetery," I nodded toward it, the symbol catching my eye and holding it again for a moment.

I broke my eyes away when I felt Willow's gaze on me. She did not looked pleased, but neither was I. The longer that monster had my mother, the less likely I was going to get her back in one piece.

"I still say you should have backup," Xander cut in, oblivious to the moment Willow and I were having.

"I'm not risking my mom that way. If I bring backup, he could just kill her. I have to do this on my own."

Willow stood up from the bed and hugged me. "Be careful," she said.

"We don't even know that he'll have your mom with him. This could be a trap," Xander grumbled.

I grabbed my hair and pulled it back, securing it into a ponytail. "Well then it's a good thing traps are my specialty."

~~BatB~~

I had memorized the directions Spike had given me. I told him to stay away, very persuasively, and while I was never quite sure what the hell Spike would do, I believed I bought myself enough time to get in and out of there before he arrived.

The Beast's name had been spoken to me; I had even laughed about how fruity it sounded. But when I walked into the crypt, I knew I was in over my head. I kept walking, taking the stairs down into the small room.

He sat on the edge of a tomb, and there wasn't anything fruity about him. Clad in a leather jacket and dressed all in black, he was the epitome of sexiness. His dark hair was expertly styled to look like it hadn't been touched and his jawline was meant for a superhero, not a villain. His eyes were violent; they watched me with a sort of sick amusement, like a cat would a mouse.

"Where's my mother?" I hissed at him.

"Buffy," he said, and his voice ran over me like a warm breeze, "come here."

"Okay," I replied. Before my brain caught up, my feet had carried me to him.

The closer I got, the foggier my brain became.

"I see you got my message."

"Where's my mother?" I asked again, only this time my voice carried none of the control it had before. What was wrong with me?

"She's safe, for now," he replied. "Did you come to trade yourself for her?" His voice was amused.

"No, I came here to kill you," I admitted, again my tone not matching my words.

In the story, the Beast let Belle's father go.

My beast laughed.

"Even better," he cooed. "I wouldn't have let her go anyway. I thought it might be fun to torture her in front of you, or you in front of her. I hadn't decided yet. But now that I see you, I'm not sure torture is the way to go." He looked down at me, and his eyes locked on mine. I felt my whole body sway and I knew something was wrong. My eyes rolled back and I saw the symbol again on the roof of the crypt. I was right underneath it, and it was doing something to me.

It was the last thought that was my own.

~~BatB~~

"I don't like this one bit," Xander said as he paced back and forth in Buffy's living room. "She should have been back by now."

Willow had spent most of the evening staring at her crystals, and Xander could not figure out why she was not more worried.

"Don't worry, Xander. I'll know if something happens. I put a tag on her."

"A tag?" He stopped walking and looked at her.

Earlier, when Willow had hugged Buffy, she had slipped a small stone into her back pocket. It held two functions; it served as a locator and it monitored Buffy for danger. If Buffy was in peril, her heart rate would increase and her aura would read different. These things would be reported back to Willow through her own crystals.

Xander looked at the crystals while she explained to him how they worked.

"And her heart rate is the same?"

"Yup," Willow said with a smile. "Cool as a cucumber."

"So you're saying that Buffy just walked into a crazy vampire's lair and she her adrenaline hasn't kicked in a bit?"

Xander watched Willow as she began to understand.

"Call Spike," she said in a firm voice.

~~BatB~~

I winced as I felt the whip lash at my back again. The pain was intense but it had been going on so long I was almost numb from it. Had I not been a slayer, I would have already passed out. My body was screaming but my mind seemed to ask for more. There was no fight in me to leave; I wanted what my beast wanted.

"Buffy, Buffy, Buffy," the Beast spoke. "You smell divine."

Although I could hear sobbing coming from somewhere in the room, I couldn't focus on anything but his voice. Slow and deep, the sensual tones brought as much pleasure to me as the whip brought pain. I was facing away from him, my arms tied and stretched over my head—not that I'd run if I could. His footsteps were quiet but I could hear each one as he approached me.

I felt his tongue over my back, sliding along each cut.

It was pain.

It was bliss.

I heard the sobbing grow louder and a muffled voice trying to shout something but I tuned it out, not needing to hear.

"I can see why Spike is enamored with you. You take pain well and you taste divine." The sobbing grew again, and the cool relief of his body by mine was gone. There was a sickening thud and then the sobbing stopped. "I like misery, but even I have a limit."

"Now, where were we?" he asked. I heard the sound of him picking the whip back up.

"Step away from her, Angelus."

"No," I cried out.

I could hear the smile in his voice when he responded to Spike, "The lady wishes to stay here."

"Buffy," a familiar voice called out. Willow.

Then I heard Xander's voice but I had trouble making it out. He was whispering, and then Willow began to chant. I closed my eyes and waited for it to be over and for my beast, Angelus, to return to me. I knew he would be triumphant.

~~BaTB~~

Xander lifted the axe high above his head. He knew he didn't have the strength and the speed to win but at least with a long weapon he could maybe hold Angelus back long enough for Willow to finish the spell. Well, him and Spike. As much as he didn't like to admit he needed the vampire's help, it was essential to winning the fight.

Angelus smiled as he walked over, but it quickly fell from his face when he recognized the words Willow was chanting.

"Te implor, Doamne, nu ignora aceasta rugaminte. Nici…"

"No!" he called out, lunging toward the redheaded witch.

Xander took a step forward but Spike met him first. The two clashed in a myriad of flying limbs, each finding purchase on the other and yet neither wavered. Both deflected enough of the blows to stay on their feet and throw back another attack at their opponent.

Spike twisted and grab Angelus' arm, throwing him into a wall. Xander took the moment to charge but was sent flying with a single swing of the angry vampire's hand.

"Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i va transporta, sufletul la el…" Willow kept chanting as she felt the pressure of the fight. She didn't spare a glance, but from the sounds that Spike was making and the fact that Xander had just gone flying over her head told her that she didn't have much time left. "...Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum! Acum!"

With the final words spoken, Willow felt the familiar rush of power singe through her body. It felt like fire and ice, like the best drug in the world and the worst. It could take you over, like Hell wrapped in the guise of Heaven. She focused her energy on pulling herself back to her body, feeling like she was floating.

When she looked up the fighting was done. Angelus lay in a heap on the floor and Spike was standing over him with a curious look on his face. Willow heard Xander groan from behind her and she was up in a flash to check on her friend.

~~BatB~~

"What's happening?" I shouted as I heard the fighting stop. My head felt fuzzy, and while the pull to the Beast was still there, I was confused as to what had gone on.

"Buffy?" Xander's voice called out from behind me. "Are you okay?"

"I will be when someone unties me," I said and then waited to see if there would be an objection in my mind. When I felt none, I relaxed.

Xander pulled at the chains but could do little with the metal; it took Spike's strength to tear the restraints from me. I rubbed my wrists as they freed my legs next. A jacket was draped over me and I pulled it close around me.

When I turned, I saw my Beast lying on the ground. He whimpered as he curled himself up in a ball.

I took a step toward him and Spike placed a hand on my shoulder. "Let me help with that." Spike grabbed Xander's axe from the ground and he raised it high, shattering the symbol on the roof. I felt the spell break, it was the last of the chains on me and yet I still felt the need to step toward the Beast.

"What did you do to him?" I asked.

Xander smiled. "Willow gave him his soul back."

I looked over at my friend with shock but I wasn't able to ask any more questions as I was interrupted by Willow's voice, "Buffy!"

I rushed over, catching a glimpse of my mother, slumped over some rocks in the corner. "Mom!" I cried out, and the Beast was forgotten while we rushed her to the hospital.

~~BatB~~

"Your mother will be just fine," the doctor said as he wrote down the information on her monitor. "She has a concussion and may suffer some short term memory loss, but she should be up and around in no time."

"Thank you," I said and took another look at her before going back to share the news with my friends in the waiting room.

They hugged me and Willow offered to come spend the night with me but I refused. I needed to be alone. The spell was gone, I could feel it, but there were lingering effects. I missed my Beast, Angelus.

At home, I showered and applied ointment to the lashes on my back, where I could reach. I healed fast but it helped take the sting off. With a blanket around me and a hot cup of cocoa, I sat down on my couch and became lost in my thoughts.

The Beast had a soul now. What did that mean? I had met many humans with souls that were just as evil as Angelus had been. Then the image of him whimpering on the ground came back to me. The reintroduction to a soul had not been a pleasant one for him. He'd been weeping, I was sure of it.

Where was he now? Lost? Broken?

I put my cup down and grabbed my jacket, heading out the door. I needed to find him.

I had expected him to be gone from the crypt, but still that was the first place I checked. I hoped he would have left clues, but he did better than that; he was still there, lying on the floor where we left him. His body still shook, although not as furiously as it had before.

"Angelus." It was the first time I'd said his name aloud and it hung in the air.

He lifted his head, his face pained as he looked at me with the eyes of a man rather than a monster.

"Are you here to kill me?" he asked, crawling toward me and then sitting up on his knees. I stared at him, almost afraid to move. "Please?"

"No," I said softly, lowering myself down beside him. "I'm not going to kill you."

He looked at me, his eyes questioning and strained. His arms grabbed a hold of me and pulled me to him. "I'm sorry," he cried, and I hissed, his fingers pressing against my wounds.

He let go and skittered back, looking horrified. "Oh, God. You have to kill me," he said again.

"No," I said simply. I would tell my friends later that it was punishment for him, to live in such agony. The truth was, I was selfish. I couldn't bear the thought of killing him. Be it magic or something else, I knew then my life would forever be entwined with him.

~~BatB~~

5 years later.

The graveyard was foggy, the air thick with the smell of freshly dug dirt. I perched myself on the top of a tombstone as I watched the new grave. My stake spun in my hand as I watched the ground begin to move. First a hand, and then an arm emerged.

This part always took forever.

When the vampire finally pulled half his body out of the grave, I sighed and walked up, ramming my stake through his heart. His wide, surprised eyes were the last thing I saw before he disintegrated into a pile of dust.

"Some of them are hardly worth it," I mumbled to myself, and then I heard a noise. My head shot up and I looked into the eyes of Angelus.

Raising my stake again I shot forward, leaping over a headstone to get to him, but he saw me coming and spun on his own with a flying kick and sent the vampire behind him sailing through the air. I tossed my stake at him and he grabbed it with ease, plunging it into the vampire's heart.

He smiled up at me. "We make a good team."

"That we do," I replied. "Now give me my stake back."

It had taken only six months for Angelus to seek me out again after I'd left him in the crypt. He begged for death and Spike was willing to give it, but I refused. He became repentant, wanting to help in our fight. I scoffed at first, but Angel—as he liked to be called now—was an incredible fighter. We took down twice as many demons with him on our team.

No one was happy with my decision to add him to our gang but they didn't begrudge me the help. It wasn't until Angel and I began our romantic interludes that I worried of a mutiny. Willow warned me that the spell on him would be broken if he ever truly tasted happiness. Then when I looked at her blankly, she informed me that _I_ was happiness.

It wasn't a smooth transition for us from partners in demon fighting to lovers. The first time I'd felt a twinge of honest attraction for Angel, I'd beaten the hell out of him. It was only after a rather grueling fight and I looked over at him as he was wiping demon goo off his face that I'd thought, _I could kiss that face. _My first instinct was that he had cast a spell on me again, so I charged over and began to wail on him. He didn't fight back, and soon after I'd stopped, I realized Angel would never do anything to hurt me.

Even after that moment we didn't click together as a couple. Angel was hard to read, constantly brooding and sulking; it was hard to tell if he had any feelings to return. I began to think even if he did care for me in a romantic way, he'd never think himself worthy. I decided it wasn't such a bad quality in a man so I began to pursue him. He didn't fight me long, so I jumped back to the conclusion that he'd cast a spell on me and I beat him bloody again.

Spike had way too much fun during these months.

Eventually, I began to trust him and we went on a date. It's not most girls dream date location, but when he found a vampire nest for me to take down, I knew I was in trouble. This was a man I could love.

My story has no happily ever after. While my beast's heart had changed, I still could not have him. In fact my love did nothing to cure him of that blackness in his soul; that was all magic. My love would destroy him, but I couldn't let him go.

The spell that willow had cast on him gave him a soul, but it was meant to leave him in torment for the rest of his undead life. If he experienced true happiness, the spell would be broken and we would end up with the evil Angelus back again. So I gave him my kisses and my touches but I couldn't give him what we both wanted, my body. I would forever be a tease and yet I couldn't bring myself to give him up.

So in the end of the tale, Belle was not the innocent, self-sacrificing girl you'd expect. The Beast was not free of his curse but trapped in a new one, and Gaston never made his big move. It may not make a good bedtime tale, but it's real and it's true and it's the life I live every day.

There are no happily-ever-afters in life, only the end of one journey and the beginning of a new one. So Angel and I will hunt side by side, we will give what we can from each other, and at the end of the day, we hope to hell we aren't linked to any of the other Grimm fairy tales.

**E/N- The spell used in this was taken directly from the Buffy show. I do not claim all that Latin as my own. If I would have written it, it would have sounded like this. Ive-gay oul-say ack-bay.**


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